Assistant.to Blog

Assistant.to eliminates the painful back and forth of scheduling meetings by embedding your calendar availability directly into an email. To make your life even easier, we now offer a easy-to-use integration with GoToMeeting.

About GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is an easy way to run conferences with video, audio, and shared screens. You can create a personalized meeting room and share it with a URL. With HD video communication you can see people as you work together.

Host and invite people to your meeting.

See their faces and hear their voices. Toll-free calling is also available.

Use the controls to share your screen, mute, and more.

How to Set Up GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting has a free month free trial and costs $39 per month for their PRO option when you buy an annual plan allowing you to have up to 25 participants. To sign up for your free trial, follow these simple steps:

Go to GoToMeeting.com and click ‘Start My 30-Day Free Trial.’

Sign up with your email.

Create your own personal conference room and get your permanent GoToMeeting link.

You can now use your GoToMeeting link as a convenient way to host and schedule your meetings.

Integrating Assistant.to and GoToMeeting

Assistant.to eliminates the painful back and forth of scheduling meetings by embedding your calendar availability directly into an email. To make your life even easier, we now offer an easy-to-use integration with UberConference.

About UberConference

UberConference provides a pain-free way to schedule and run audio conferences, all without requiring annoying PINs. And it adds a visual dimension and smart contact integration to audio conferencing.

Invite and automatically authenticate callers based on your contact information.

See the people in the conference and who is speaking from any computer.

Click to control calls with features like mute, record, and more.

How to Set Up UberConference

It’s free to sign up and use UberConference. Simply follow these 3 easy steps:

Go to Uberconference.com and click ‘Sign Up.’

Sign up with your name and email or a Google+/LinkedIn account.

You’ll then be directed to a page where you can create your own personal permanent Uberconference link.

You can use your Uberconference link (in my case: uberconference.com/colincarson) as a convenient way to host and schedule meetings!

Integrating Assistant.to and UberConference

You already know how Assistant.to eliminates the back and forth of scheduling meetings by embedding your calendar’s availability directly into an email.

But did you know that Assistant.to can also save you even more time by automatically adding a Google+ Hangout to each accepted calendar invite?

For Gmail users, Hangouts are a fast and efficient method for video call, and the feature is already embedded without your Gmail and Google+.

Whenever you want to have video call in your meeting the option can then be right there in Assistant.to instead of having to go back through Google+.  

This option is turned off by default, but can be turned on easily.

To automatically add a Google+ Hangout to all your events:

Go to Google Calendar.

Click the gear icon

Click Settings.

Select Yes next to "Automatically add Google+ Hangouts to events I create."

Under "Automatically add video calls to events I create," click Yes.

The next event you create, you’ll see Hangout has been automatically added

If you change your mind you can always go back through the same steps and click No instead of Yes to have the option removed.

If you want to remove a Google+ Hangout from a specific event while still having it be automatically added for the others that’s easy to do as well.

Remove a Google+ Hangout from a Specific Event:

Go to Google Calendar.

Click the event you want to change.

Click Edit event.

Next to "Join video call," click Remove.

Your event will no longer show a Hangout.

If you have the automatic Hangout option enabled, just click Join Google+ Hangout in the event bubble to get started with your Hangout.

Note that only Google+ users can join hangouts. If your guest is not a Google+ user, they’ll see a suggestion to sign up for Google+.

Price resistance is a major concern for all salespeople, and for good reason. When price is the only issue, if the salesperson presents the buyer with the lowest price option he will win the deal. However, a great deal of the time price is not the sole issue, and is simply being used as a masquerade. Price pressure comes from all directions – buyers believe they should push for lower prices and want more for less. As a salesperson, it is important to think of price in a different way and use it to your advantage. If a salesperson is not offering a commodity, price is a byproduct of other factors. It is the responsibility of the salesperson to be clear on the issues with the prospective client so he can get control of the price discussion.

1. Never Entertain Haggling The title says it all: never entertain haggling. Haggling is not negotiating. “Negotiating” occurs when the two parties make adjustments in terms, conditions, and/or scope of work between them. “Haggling” occurs when one party is asked to complete the same exact proposed work but for less money. In addition to haggling being a poor business tactic, it is also distasteful and changes the tone of the conversation. If the work is priced and justified correctly, haggling should never come into price discussions. Whenever you or the customer make an adjustment in price, it should be accompanied by equal adjustment in scope, terms, and/or conditions.

2. Don’t let your customer make Apples & Oranges Comparisons No “apples to apples” solutions exist when comparing business solutions. Complex solutions are rarely the exact same when comparing two competing companies which means there is no valid or exact comparison between the two in terms of price. A chef would never be asked to serve food and a server would never be asked to cook food; the two examples represent the same industry but entirely different problems and solutions. If a lower quality provider is compared to a higher quality competitor in the same market and offers a solution that is “as good” as the higher quality competitor, the only comparison between the two is price. This is a huge mistake by the higher quality competitor; higher quality providers must set their solutions apart from all other businesses in more areas than just price.

3. Reframe the problem To set a solution apart from that of its competitors, the salesperson must set his solution apart so he cannot be compared strictly through price. Consider a salesperson that sells design services. It is easy to compare this provider with other vendors by how many hours it takes to complete the job and what the hourly rate is. This salesperson can change the conversation by redefining the problem in terms of time. By approaching potential clients with the stipulation that is solution will be completed in less than three months, he is setting himself apart from the competition by solving a problem outside a comparative matrix. Now, the customer cannot compare him to other competitors by price and must take into account that this provider is the only one that will do the project in less than three months. Defining the business problem as a time problem makes price a smaller part of the conversation and therefore less important to the customer. Even when time is not a major stipulation for potential clients, they are often still willing to pay more because the important value of time and the ability to finish the project with confidence was elevated in the conversation.

4. Make your prospect comfortable with the outcome One of the most vital elements in discussing price is the expected outcome: a customer will be much more willing to go along with a higher price if he can be sure of the deal’s outcome. If a customer is approached with the question “Would it be worth it to you to make a five thousand dollar investment, if you will receive a fifty-thousand dollar increase in sales?” the answer is always a resounding “yes.” From this example it is clear to see that price is not the main issue in making a deal – it is the outcome of the deal that is most important to the customer. A customer will typically be willing to pay more if he can be assured of a clear and positive outcome of the deal. To make the deal more appealing to the customer, be sure to address his concerns in the deal and what would make him feel most comfortable before discussing the price.

When you look in the dictionary for charisma, you may just find a photo of Former President Bill Clinton.  Whether you agree, disagree, or despise his politics, there’s one thing we can most all agree on: he exudes charisma from every pore of his body.  What makes him so charismatic?  Is it a reality distortion field?  Was he born that way? Well it turns out that contrary to popular belief, charisma can be learned.  In her book, Olivia Fox Cabane discusses how modern research has dispelled the Charisma Myth. In this post we’ll reveal our favorite tips for being charismatic.  

The Charisma Dynamic 

Contrary to popular belief perceptions of charisma do not fluctuate by the length or content of the meeting, rather it’s how present you are in the conversation.  At the end of the day, your aim should be to project power and warmth. While power alone comes off as cold or arrogant, warmth alone can appear desperate or subservient.  

1.  First Impressions Matter…a lot

You’ve surely heard the expression, “You only get one first impression.”  While cliche, it’s true and important.  When we first meet someone we judge him or her on tons of different things. We then spend the rest of relationship trying to prove those things correct.  At first, be sure to direct attention towards them by answering their questions with a fact and personal anecdote/note, then turn the question on them.  In the end, what you talked about - the words and content - doesn’t matter, it’s how they felt speaking with you. 

2.  Shake it like a polaroid picture

To ace a handshake, make sure to stand up, smile briefly but warmly, make significant eye contact, wrap fingers around the other person’s hand, lock your thumb down once contact is made, and firmly shake from the elbow.  You can give your handshake extra warmth by extending your index finger onto the inside of the person’s wrist as you clasp hands.

Body Language Speaks Louder than Words

In high stake situations and conflict, we tend to trust nonverbal signal over verbal signals. 

1. Mirror

One of the most powerful techniques in using body language is “mirroring.”  Mirroring a person’s body language activates feelings of liking and trust.  

2. Sit Smartly 

Beyond mirroring, when meeting someone, where you sit is also important. While it’s common to sit on opposites sides of a table when meeting someone, sitting in 90 degree angles is far less confrontational and less conducive to an argument.  

3. Take Up Space

The last body language tip is to assume an expansive pose.  It turns out taking up more space actually affects you mentally.  Expansive poses increase testosterone which in turn make you feel more confident and more powerful.  Just watch how more senior people act in a restaurant or board room.  You’ll likely see them drape their arms over an adjacent chair or lean back.  It works!

Hacking the Charisma Within

There are two invaluable tricks that can help you prepare for meeting and refocus you when you feel yourself getting distracted.  

1.  It’s all in the toes

Our minds are constantly adrift.  Evolutionarily speaking, paying attention to multiple things was essential for our survival.  Now with the advent of smart phones and social media our evolutionary tendency for wanting to keep track of multiple things often exceeds our limits, so we zone out and lose focus.  The next time you find your mind drifting mid-conversation, bring yourself back by quickly concentrating on your toes.  Being mindful of your toes will force your mind to sweep through your body and as a result, you’ll become more in tune with the moment.

2. Deploy Jedi Mind Tricks…on your self

There’s a reason top athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky swear by visualization.  Imagining oneself performing an activity or tasks activates the identical parts of the brain that are used in actually performing the activity.  That sounds great, but you're probably wondering how does that help me in my day-to-day?  

Feeling anxious or unnerved?  Visualize a 20-second hug to get a solid dose of calming oxytocin - the neurochemical responsible for reversing the arousal from the fight-or-flight response. 

Feeling overwhelmed or defeated?  Imagine an experience where you felt triumphant. See the smiles, feel handshakes, and hear the sounds. 

Feeling ungrateful? While slightly morbid, focus on three personal abilities, imagine your eulogy at your funeral, or narrate your autobiography in third person.

Feeling a lack of compassion?  And if you're not feeling morbid enough, put yourself in their shoes and think about what you would say at their funeral.  

Google Search has become an indispensable tool in virtually everyone’s life.  But in recent years, Google has been tweaking Search to show much more than just simple search results.  For certain queries, Google now brings targeted information and interactive tools.  Below, we outline our favorite special Google Searches.    

Timer - Sick of using the microwave as a timer?  Simply search for “3 min 5 sec timer” and instantly Google will show a timer.   There is even an optional audible alarm.  Give it a try

Translations - Type “translate {word} to {language}” (e.g. “translate snow to Spanish”) and Google will return a translation of the word in your desired language.  Give it a try

Calculator - Ever need do a quick calculation? The answer is just a search away.  Search Google for “84.92*5” and you’ll have your answer in milliseconds.  Give it a try

Weather - Want to quickly know what the weather is going to be like?  Enter “weather {zipcode}” (e.g. “weather 94110”) and Google will provide you with a handy weather summary. Give it a try

Times in another timezone - Trying to make a call or schedule a meeting with someone overseas? Spare them from an earlier than planned wake up time by Googling “time in {city}” (e.g. “Time in Beijing”) Give it a try

Package tracking - Want to know where your package is?  No need to fumble through UPS.com or fedex.com’s websites, just enter the tracking number directly in Google search to instantly get its status. Give it a try

Conversions - Forget how many quarts are in a pint?  With Google you can just type “{#} {unit of measure 1} to {unit of measure 2}” (e.g. “5 quarts to pints”) to get an instant conversion.  As you can imagine, this is super useful when cooking. Give it a try

Dictionary Lookup - Come across a word and not know what it means?  No need to break out your dusty dictionary. Type “define {word}” (e.g. “define stupendous”) and you’ll be shown that word’s definition, pronunciation, and synonyms. Give it a try

Movie Times - Want a quick way to figure out what movies are playing by you?  Enter your “movies {zipcode}” (e.g. “movies 94110”) to get a convenient list of movies and movie times.  Better yet, all the movies have links to trailers and reviews so you can easily decide what to see.   Give it a try

Flight Status - Picking someone up from the airport but want to check their flight status first?  There’s no need to wrangle through airlines’ notoriously byzantine websites, just search “Airline {flight number}” (e.g. “Jetblue 77”) and Google will give you a complete status update on the flight.  Give it a try

Do you make lists for everything? Do you live for the thrill of crossing something off your list?  Is your closet color coded?  Ok, maybe your closet isn’t color coded (though if it is, we want to hear from you), but chances are you keep what you need to get done in a list.  Now people have widely different ways of managing their tasks - some use post-its, others use their inbox, but a (smart) few use online To-Do lists. 

Online to-do lists allow you view you tasks anywhere and any time. On top of this, they have cool features that allow you to go beyond two dimensional lists, like notifying you when a task needs to be complete or enabling you to collaborate with others around a todo.

Wunderlist - Wunderlist is one of the earliest innovators of modern to-do applications.  Getting its start on Windows and Mac OS X, Wunderlist has gradually expanded to support and sync with iPhone, Android, iPad, and Web versions.  It’s feature set is impressive but not confusing, priding itself on being somewhere in the in between minimalist to-do app and apps with every feature under the sun.  Creating tasks and lists is straightforward, you can star tasks, create sub-tasks, set reminders, and specify due dates.  But one of the coolest features is the ability to assign tasks to others (my brother even uses this feature to assign tasks to my mom).  

Get the App: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web, Chrome

Clear - If Wunderlist is the nicely appointed SUV of to-do apps, Clear is the sleek sports car.  Clear uses gestures to make adding, deleting, or viewing tasks as simple as a swipe or tap.  Geared for simplicity, the to-do items are limited to 30 characters and color-coded as a heat-map, so you know what needs your attention the most.  If you’re fan of Mailbox for your mail, you’ll likely be a fan of Clear for your tasks.   Clear was designed mobile first, and has since expanded to the desktop with a dedicated app for Macs.      

Get the App: iOS, Mac 

AnyDo:  So Wunderlist is the well appointed SUV and Clear is the sleek sports car, AnyDo is the luxury sedan.  Any-do also a very slick Google Chrome Extension (you know who else has a very slick Google Chrome Extension? Assistant.to) that lets you effortlessly add tasks and reminders directly from Gmail.  

Get the App: iOS, Android, Chrome

So your company finally made the switch to Google Apps and you’ve said goodbye to mailbox size quotas, painful inbox search, Microsoft Office etc.  Great!  Though given we use Google services for so many things, it can be difficult to keep work and play separate.  One underutilized feature that can keep your work and personal life separate is Chrome Chrome User Profiles.  

User profiles within Google Chrome allow you to easily switch between distinct Google accounts (like work and personal).  With a click you’re instantly logged into all your Google services like Gmail, Google+, Drive, Youtube, etc. for that account.   Each of your profiles is denoted by a unique customizable icon and in each user profile, Chrome is signed on to the Google account of your choice.  

For example, say you use Yesware, Assistant.to, and Buffer extensions for your job, but have no need for these extensions in your personal life, with 1 click you can easily separate your two worlds.  Establishing individual user profiles not only allows you to install different Chrome extensions for each account, but you’re also able to separate your browsing history, themes, bookmarks, and other personal logins/accounts.

To get started open Chrome’s menu

Click the three horizontal lined icon 

 in the top right hand corner of Google Chrome and select the “Settings” option.  Once in settings scroll down to the “User Section” and click “Add new user.”  From there you can select a unique icon for that user and Chrome will prompt you to log into that user’s account.  On windows you are able to create a desktop shortcut for that profile.  

Switching Between Profiles

Once you have your profiles set up, switching is dead simple.  To switch profiles, simply click on the user icon in the top right hand corner and you’ll be shown a list of users and their respective icons.  Instantly after clicking on the desired profile you’ll be signed into that user’s accounts.

Final Thoughts

One of the most common uses of Assistant.to is in Sales Prospecting.  For the prospect, even if they’re interested, getting an email from a sales person can be daunting.  The thought of having to compose a reply and figure out a time meet requires effort, thought, and sometimes a couple emails.  When times are inserted directly into the email and it’s made clear to the prospect that they just need to click a time, the friction of expressing interest and scheduling a time goes away.  

That said, when it comes to using Assistant.to, the prospecting use case requires a slightly different approach.  Here are three tips for getting the most out of Assistant.to when prospecting.  

Send times out a couple days in the future.  If the prospect is cold, we recommend sending out a times to meet a couple days in advance.  People tend to more readily commit to things when they have a little time.  The more senior the prospect is the further out your times should be. Senior level prospects generally have busier schedules (or at least want to appear busier), so it may be wise to suggest times 5-7 days in advance. 

Provide times from Assistant.to but be flexible.  Oftentimes it’s helpful to let the prospect know these are some times for them to choose from, but it’s not representative of your complete availability.  You may even want to include some text that welcomes the prospect to meet with you sooner.  For example, “here are some times I have available next week, but if you’d like to meet sooner, just let me know what works for you and we’ll make it work.”

Get a static pin-free conference call number from Hipdial, Speek, or UberConference and/or a personal screenshare URL from Fileboard, Clearslide, or join.me.  Simply paste the number, url, and/or instructions in the location field and that will automatically be added to the invite. Since Assistant.to remembers these settings, you will be able to schedule subsequent meetings dramatically faster (i.e. rapid-fire scheduling).  

As with most approaches, one size doesn’t fit all, so be sure to test and try a variety of different approaches that adapt for different variables in your sales cycle and market.  

If you search Google for sales subject lines that work there are about 77 million results (read through them...we'll wait).  Articles like 6 Ways to Get Sales Email Opened and Don't Delete Me! The Sales Email Subject Line are prime examples.  They tout "don't make it look like spam", "localize but don't personalize," and "make the subject line short."  Some of this advice is better than others.  

Though, thankfully unlike many things in life, creating a compelling subject isn't complex.  In fact, it's completely formulaic. The secret formula?

Intro: Their First Name & Your First Name 

E.g. Intro: Jake & Jonathan

Why this works:

Relevancy - I know this message is for me.  It's not something you blasted out to thousands (maybe you did, but I'll have to at least open up the email to check).  But even more fundamentally, from the first couple weeks of infancy and for the rest of our life, we are conditioned to respond to our name.  It's one of our strongest conditioned responses.  

Fear of Missing Out - Intros can be the beginning of some of the most important relationships we ever forge.  If I get an email with an intro, I'm going to at least open it.  

Novelty/Curiosity - To piggy back on point #2, introducing another person's name triggers our innate curiosity.  Who is this Jonathan?  Is he influential (no)? Is he worth my time(probably not)? In event, we want to find out who wants to speak to us.

As CEO, I'm constantly reaching out to people with whom I've never interacted before.  Following this technique I have a open rate near 100%.  Getting my emails opened is the easy part, getting my prospects to respond a little more difficult and best saved for another post.

From Rapportive to Buffer, we're big fans of helpful Chrome extensions.  One excellent chrome extension that hits close to home is Google Calendar's chrome extension.  

This extension lets you see your upcoming events at a glance on any page, telling you exactly how long you have until your next meeting.  It also allows you to right click on events on sites like Meetup.com and Eventbrite and seamlessly add these events to your calendar.